Payment is due
by Dionysus69
Summary: Nathaniel is a man with heavy secrets and a dark past, Jennifer is a young teen, 18 and still in high school, the world at her feet. What will happen when their lives and worlds collide? Based Very Loosely on freaky friday as that was the only movie i saw in the list that had the 'body swap' theme, but has some twists of my own. Rated M mostly due to swearing and adult concepts.
1. Nathaniel

The sliding glass door rolled to an almost silent 'click' behind him, Nathaniel locked the door and looked about, home he thought to Himself. Alone again he added to himself silently.

He looked about and for a moment and felt pride in himself; this place was his and his alone **As long as I can keep the bank happy and pay off my mortgage** a voice inside him reminded. Shut up he told his inner voice, I know already.

Nathaniel sat in the lone chair downstairs, turned on his computer to check emails noticing yet another demand for payment of body corporate fees. He sighed, yet another thing on his to do list, he was unemployed and he was in the middle of a financial balancing act that he was, quite frankly loosing. There was money in his account, but not much, unemployment benefits paid off the mortgage, and little else. He needed to find work again, and soon.

Satisfied that there was nothing he had to do right now, he turned off the laptop and headed up the stairs, shower and bed. Getting ready for his shower Nathaniel looked in the mirror, looking back at him was a 45 year old man, laugh lines starting to show at corners of eyes, his once sandy brown hair mostly grey at the temples. His hair hung in a loose ponytail.

Not too bad he thought, not great, but not bad. He wasn't a tall man, was not massively muscled, yet he was strong and fit for his age, the years he thought had been kind to him. His pale blue eyes looked back at him in the mirror, yeah he owned a unit, had some money in the bank, everything he could ever want.

'**Except company, family**', and the smile on his face disappeared, where, he thought to himself can you buy a mute switch for an internal voice. Ok, so not family he had that… no, now was not to time to start thinking about that again, time to move forward, move on, **sure **he told himself, you do that, **and while you're at it try not to wake in a cold sweat from yet another nightmare. **He muttered to himself and stepped into the shower, maybe now I can have 5 minutes peace.

Brushing his teeth before going to bed he once again made a note to himself to get his teeth fixed, **when I have the money, **came the automatic mental reply. The bruises heal, given time, but broken teeth stay broken, **maybe one day**, he thought.

As his face hit the pillow, he realised the time, thinking that he should not have spent so long at that party. **Those uni kids really know how to party**, then he fell asleep immediately, very unusual for him.

**The time was 11.59PM, the date 31 October, 2013.**

He awoke the next morning, feeling slightly hung-over, which was strange as he did not remember drinking that much, got out of bed. He was momentarily disorientated, looking around at the pink lace sheets, on a bed he did not recognise, in a room that was not his own. **'I must have gone home with one of those students'** he smiled to himself, now that hasn't happened in a long time, '**way to break the drought'. ** His face fell when he passed the large mirror facing the bed. **'what the FUCK!**...

Staring back at him was the image of a young girl, jet black hair, green eyes and alabaster skin...


	2. Not in Kansas anymore

**Authors note. Sorry this took so long to post, holidays and all. I'll try to start updating this on a regular schedule. My sincere apologies to any Canadian readers I do not know what school life, or life in general is like over there, I'm just guessing. I have yet to visit your fair country, but it's first on my list. Feel free to tell me if anything really feels out of place, the story is about culture shock as much as body shock.**

Nathaniel sat down, on his? Bed, His mind whirling.. I did not go to bed with a young lady he thought, **I am the young lady**. What? How? All these things raced through his mind.

I feel like me, but when I open my eyes, I don't see me I see her… me? He stood trying to get his bearings, idly wondering why he did not feel dizzy, or clumsy. If this were true he thought to himself, if I was in a new body I'd be all unco-ordinated and falling over myself as I would not be used to a smaller frame. With that thought he sat back down and smiled to himself.. so that means this is a dream. I like dreams, let's explore.

Nathaniel stood up and looked at himself, or maybe I should think of myself as her? Staring back was the prettiest face he had seen in a long time. See dream he again thought to himself, she's perfect. It was true, the vision before him was beautiful indeed, pure flawless milky white skin, eyes the colour of Jade, and hair, wow. He turned in the mirror to look at the flowing black mane, hair so black it seemed to absorb light, not reflect it, he chuckled to himself 'my god its full of stars' but not wanting to get into a copyright dispute he decided not to say it out loud.

She was, quite simply beautiful… well he thought, if you are going to dream, dream big. He looked at the image before him , his eyes travelled up and down, she was wearing a pair of sky blue silk pyjamas , bare feet. The clothing was simple and elegant, button up at the front with just the barest hint of pale skinned cleavage showing. He held his hands out to examine a pair of tiny petite hand, perfectly formed and manicured. She wore no make-up, there was no need, and she took her own breath away.

Wait a minute he thought, I just thought of myself as a she, I am going to get more confused than Alice down the rabbit hole. Great dream, just confusing. His thoughts drifted back to the party, had he been drugged? No, that didn't make sense; he remembered going to sleep in his own bed. Looking about the room he decided to explore. Large queen size bed, pink sheets, pink quilt cover, all so soft, he found his hand idly stroking the bed, feeling the texture of the smooth cotton.

Ok, I'm in a girls' body he thought, 19 or so, this must be her room. The room itself was cool, but not cold, must be good insulation from the heat he thought, he rapped on the walls, yep solid. He continued his survey of the room, two bedside tables, with lamps on each. Two doors led out of the room, the first one led to a separate ensuite, the second opened into a hallway. I'll look at that later he thought, returning to the room, a small window, obscured by a pale blue curtain caught his attention. Small for a bedroom window, wonder what is outside? Pulling aside the curtain, he barely noticed how thick the glass was, or that it seemed to be two separate panes of glass with a space in between.

Oh my he thought… I'm not in Kansas anymore. Through the window was a back yard, he was expecting that, what made the scene so surreal to him was the thick blanket of pure white snow. Not what he was expecting to see in the middle of a hot Australian summer, and the trees seemed somehow just wrong, it was then that he realised they were dark, almost black against a grey cloudy sky, and had no leaves on them, not a single one. In his entire life, he had never seen a tree without a leaf on it, except in the movies and on TV, but here it seemed real.

So, winter not summer, and I'm in the body of a young lady, again he thought back to the party, knowing that some sort of answer must be there, and still finding none.

Opening the bedside draws he found magazines in the top draw in the left side of the bed, the one closest to the door, typical teen ones, full of fluff and not much else. When did magazines aimed at teenagers talk about sex this much? That's all the magazine seemed to talk about, and boys. The next drawer had a small book with handwritten notes in it, a big 'Keep out' sign on the front cover.

The writing was small, but neat and in a language he could not understand, no wait he found he could read it, easily. How did I learn to read French? Easy came his own mental response, about the same time you became a girl. Well as dreams go, there was a certain amount of internal consistency.

He decided not to read the diary yet, it was private and he had learnt long ago, that privacy should be respected.

Once again he stood by the mirror ,studying his own reflection, when a knock at the door started him from his quiet contemplation of himself, 'come in' he said in a sing song voice musical and highly pitched, I could like this voice he thought, so light and airy, so unlike his own deep and gravely voice.

A lady stepped into the room, smiling 'oh good Jennifer, you are up. Breakfast is ready if you would like to come down', and she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Looks like I get to explore the room later he thought to himself, while another part of him was yelling '**wake up!**'

**A/N ; If you like please review, I like the warm fuzzies as much as anyone else, if you don't like feel free to tell me what I am doing wrong. Constructive criticism always welcome, I'm still learning here. Thanks for reading.**

**Oh and one further thing, this chapter dedicated to the most beautiful young lady I know.. you know who you are….**


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